Driving into Elm Creek Park Reserve one is struck with the thought:
This place is beautiful, and there’s lots of snow. The new, very large Visitor Snowshoe Chalet (okay, okay, so they call it a ‘ski chalet’) looms big time in the foreground as you weave through the entrance road. A sense of excitement starts to build, getting closer, knowing the 2007 National Snowshoe Championships are going to be contested right here, real soon!
Let’s go now! Let’s do it!
Great Glam Rock Almighty, “Get it On, Bang a Gong” Robert Palmer sings.
But, alas, we will have to wait until Saturday, March 10th, 2007:
09:00 AM for the Junior combined 5K
10:00 AM for the Senior Women 10K
11:30 AM for the Senior Men 10K
12:40 PM starts the Kids Race (All senior men, including this author, are not Champion Greg Hexum’s caliber and may not have completed the course by this time, so these times may slide somewhat
01:00 PM. Citizen 5K
02:00 PM Awards Ceremony
03:00PM Tubing (special Snowshoe rates, thanks Cindy!) and free XC lessons from Olympian Kevin Brochman (like Kevin had a choice in the matter, right, Cindy?) and public XC skiing.
07:00PM Relay Race (lighted 2.5K course) Put together a team in the afternoon of raceday, that’s okay; or there will be some sort of signup sheet. It’s a fun race, I’m told. Thus far no one has ever claimed me — reading this, Grex Hexum? You still have a chance to have me on YOUR team! The team could be named “Extremes” since you’re very fast and, well, I’m not, as the word ‘fast’ tends to rhyme with ‘last’ in my world.
08:30PM Relay Awards and Conclusion of the 2007 Championship Day
Consult www.2007snowshoechampionship.com for all times, updates, changes, and schedules; but this guide will give you plenty of information to think about until you line up for your race, check your gear. Click those race snowshoes together a couple of times to knock the snow off, eliminating all unsprung weight, just like those Stadium Motocross Racers, except here our legs act as the shock absorbers.
DRIVING THERE
From the host hotel, the Northland Inn, I suggest hopping back on.
I-694 W to the very next exit, and go #169 North a couple of miles to the big intersection and RR tracks. Get in the Left turn lane as you are going to travel W on County Rd #81, a big highway whose name belies its size. Parts are under construction so some lanes are closed. Friday afternoon rush hour backups occur at that light so allow for that, otherwise there normally isn’t a problem.
Go W for 5 or so miles and a few traffic signals, and you’ll easily see the well marked turnoff to the Right for Elm Creek Blvd and Elm Creek Park Reserve (and the Park entrance roundabout).
This is for the ‘Recreation Area,’ not the ‘Eastman Nature Center’ which is further W on #81 and merits a visit but isn’t related to the race.
PARKING
Meandering to the beautiful new, very large chalet, opened very recently, you will come to a stop sign, with parking to the left adjacent to the building. This lot will fill quickly and if you want a chance to park here, be early. Even though this is the Snowshoe Nationals Day, a lot of activity will be going on in the recreation area outside of snowshoeing, as hard as that is to believe, so parking next to the chalet will be at a premium.
The ‘shuttle overflow’ parking continues straight ahead about ? mile and can accommodate a lot of vehicles. Shuttle buses (airport style) will be running back and forth to the chalet.
Note while driving in, and if you continue on to the overflow parking, parts of the course will be off to your left.
COURSE PREVIEW & RACE REGISTRATION
By all means avail yourself to this opportunity to be on the course before race day. You can combine the 4 PM – 9 PM Registration at the chalet with the course preview at the same time.
You will be on the course so wear appropriate clothing and better bring some snowshoes.
CHALET RACE HEADQUARTERS
This marvelous facility opened only a few months ago and looks brand new. A large Great Room has plenty of table and seat space, relaxing areas along with a giant rock fire place. Good sized, modern restrooms having plenty of area to change outfits are located off of the common main entry area; on the right is the Great Room, the restrooms on the left.
A nice, staffed concessions area is in the far back portion of the great room featuring salads, cold sandwiches, and wraps all day long with plenty of hot and cold beverage choices (from hot chocolate to Red Bull and everything in-between). At 3:00 PM the Grill opens with hamburgers, hotdogs, soup and chili. All this so you won’t be undernourished while doing the course preview and working up your real appetite for the special meal with pizza and spaghetti at the ‘Dayton Women of Today’ Dinner.
SPECIAL PRERACE DINNER (& DIRECTIONS)
Friday night, 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm, the Spaghetti & Pizza Dinner is at Dayton Elementary School and prepared by the ‘Dayton Women of Today.’
This group uses their fund raising work to support school and community projects. If you clean your plate, there’s dessert, too! You can drive, but if you need transportation many of us will have plenty of room for you to ride. To get there:
(Essentially you travel around the park to the north side)
Backtrack out of the park to County Rd #81, turn Right (W). Go to the next major intersection at Fernbrook Lane, turn Right (north). Follow until 129th Ave N, go Right.
Follow to Pineview Ln, Go Left.
Follow to S Diamond Lake Rd, go Right.
The Dayton Elementary School (on the left) is at 12000 S. Diamond Lake Rd, (763.506.2200).
To get to the cafeteria, drive straight in to park on the side of the building.
Afterward, to find your way back to the Northland Inn, Go E (turn left) out of the School parking lot, drive to Dayton Rd, go Right and that leads you to Hwy #169. Go Right, and that leads you back to I-694, exit Eastbound to Boone Ave and the hotel.
THE 10K SENIOR RACE COURSE http://www.threeriversparkdistrict.org/parks/maps/ElmCreek_XC_ski_map.pdf (course described is at the bottom of this map)
Allow me to preface this section with the following caveat:
The course layout I describe may change for some reason. Even if it does, though, the nature of the course is unlikely to be remarkably different unless they ran the one I describe in reverse for some odd reason, and that is highly unlikely. There is an effort to add more single track to the course (that won’t be described here) and such additions will alter the layout somewhat. As I get any additional information on that, this version will change to reflect that.
My overall impression after XC skiing the trail with a friend who utilizes the likely 5K race course for training (and XC racing) is: The course is friendly, fair and fun. In running mountain trails there are some courses, on an out and back, where no matter at what point you’re at, you always feel like you’re going up.
This is just the opposite. Even though you will likely start and finish at the same point, the course ‘feels’ like you go down more than up. The reason is that the ups tend to be sharp and the downs are more sloping.
The 10K course will circumvent the 5K route I describe twice.
Leaving the chalet area, racers will go East underneath the walkover bridge, beginning what I will call the 1st half (‘valley’ on the map, see link below). This layout is somewhat in the shape of the letter ‘R’ as you snowshoe out to the top of the loop in the letter, and back to the start once again. There’s a climb here, under the same pedestrian bridge going Westbound now in another lane.
Topping the start area, down a big, fast hill that’s shaped somewhat like a scythe, then off to the left to the ‘Thicket’ trail. You’ve just done a little less than 2.5K at this point and are entering the 2nd half of the lap.
For the 2.5K course (like in the relay or if snow had to be made) one doesn’t go to the left at this point; rather you do an uphill little loop back to the chalet.
Back on the thicket trail, though, still sloping downhill, you come rather abruptly to “The Climb.” Some are going to enjoy the slightly sloping down hills so prevalent they’re going to be juiced by this point and find this troublesome.
After you clear the steeper part (remember, these are XC trails so they’re not mountain climbing like parts of the backside of Bolton last year) there’s still an upward slope to suck your lungs out. But it’s all plenty wide.
Then you come to the yellowed sign at the top. Sign says, “Tuck your hair up under your hat and run down to ask them why” because this is THE downhill. No brakes allowed.
You will continue straight. In less than 1K ‘thicket’ will go off to the right but you enter the ‘Northern Lights’ trail which will take you straight out to a point that turns back North/North East, and you start to head in with a climb during the curve. Then one of those nice long downhill (overall) sloping runs punctuated by curves and so forth.
You come to a sign a little more than 1K from the finish that says “Narrow Trail.” Don’t be fooled. Compared to single track most snowshoers know, that trail feels like I-93 leaving South Boston – I mean wide, lots of lanes. But to XC ski types (since the thicket trail has joined back into the loop), I can see why they might feel that way with lots of growth covering the trail sides. Don’t be surprised to see Bambi standing along the side in this bramble looking on in amazement.
You’ll have an upward sloping climb to complete one lap (or the course if you’re completing the 2nd time by) but a downhill run once again to the walkover bridge where you started.
Note that I have avoided detailing exactly where the start/finish line is because (a) I don’t know and (b) they tend to move around anyway for various reasons. But this will give you a generalized understanding of the terrain and course.
With lots of areas where you can observe snowshoers going the other way, or even off in the distance, and doing 2 loops (on the 5K course. 4 if its run on the 2.5K layout) snowshoers are going to be able to see the leaders or if you are the leaders, all the rest of us. It will be fun for competitors and spectators alike.
Congratulations for getting to participate in the 2007 U.S. Snowshoe National Championship Races. Be sure to give a nod to Cindy and Tim for their hard effort and stresses and strains organizing this event.
phillip gary smith
www.ultrasuperior.com
